General VK Singh is being hounded as he was seen by the side of Narendra Modi: BJP

NEW DELHI: Former Army chief General VK Singh is again in the middle of a controversy — but this time, it's almost full-blown political. He shared a dais with Narendra Modi last Sunday in Rewari, Haryana.

And the BJP and the general are making allegations that a ministry of defence inquiry into certain military intelligence activities during General Singh's tenure as Army chief is a part of a political "vendetta".

It was reported on Friday that a sub unit of Military Intelligence called the Techinical Support Division (TSD) had been investigated by the ministry of defence for irregularities, including what the report said were attempts at "political destabilisation" in Jammu and Kashmir.

BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said, "General VK Singh is being hounded as he was seen by the side of Narendra Modi. We caution the government to look into this, as the probe will result in complete trust deficit in the Army and demoralising the armed forces," she said.

The general told ET"this is a simple vendetta as some people are not comfortable with me sharing the dais with Narendra Modi to espouse the cause of ex-servicemen in the country".

marks a change from its earlier careful approach to General Singh. When the general was embroiled in a controversy over army records on his age and moved court against the government, the BJP had refrained from actively supporting him.

BJP leaders said the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, known to General Singh's family through his father-in-law, Vijay Pal Singh (a former deputy speaker in the Haryana Assembly), had counselled the Singh family to not be confrontationist.

The BJP's cautious approach then was in contrast to more open support by the RSS. What has changed, a senior BJP leader said is that the general's political preference is "under attack". BJP leaders are convinced that the general's 'Modi moment' is the trigger for the current 'leaks'. They also say "targeting the general is part of the Congress's attack on people at the top of the system". BJP leaders gave the example of Vinod Rai, ex-CAG. Talk about the general's political debut has grown louder inside BJP circles. But party leaders said "it's too early to say anything".

The Congress rejected the BJP's charges of the probe being a political vendetta and said the timing of the report was a "coincidence".

Its spokesman PC Chacko said the Army should not be used for any political campaign.